


Discussing the Validity of Karma and Fate at 4 in the Morning

by reiley



Series: Torchwood Jack/Ianto Ficlets [11]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, M/M, Post Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 13:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/687304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reiley/pseuds/reiley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>originally posted: 02/12/08</p>
    </blockquote>





	Discussing the Validity of Karma and Fate at 4 in the Morning

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted: 02/12/08

* * *

Ianto grunts in his sleep as the twitching and whimpering beside him escalates. Reaching a hand across, he rubs gently at the bare shoulder. “Wake up, Jack.”

He’s already awake, but it takes a moment to register his surroundings. He turns his body toward Ianto, curling into him.

Moving closer, wrapping his arm around Jack, holding him tightly, Ianto mumbles into his neck, “What was it this time?”

Jack replies, in a choked whisper, “Same one.”

Trailing a hand down Jack’s arm, Ianto reaches his wrists, clutched together between their bodies. Jack rubs them furiously, unconsciously, until Ianto pulls them free. He brings Jack’s arm up to kiss the inside of his wrist once, then again. “No chains. See? You’re alright now.”

Pushing deeper into the embrace, Jack wraps his arms around Ianto and presses his face against his bare chest. His words, quiet and muffled, send a chill down Ianto’s spine.

“I deserved it.”

Backing away just slightly, Ianto grasps the sides of Jack’s face in his hands, trying to catch his eye. “Jack. Look at me.”

But he won’t, refusing, burying his face in the space between Ianto’s body and the soft sheets on the bed. Ianto turns away from him and Jack muffles a soft hitch in his breath. The light from the bedside lamp startles him into looking up, blinking rapidly to focus on the man staring down at him.

“Jack. Look at me.” Ianto reaches his hand out to Jack’s face, but the other man flinches away. “It’s over. You’re here now. It’s… Jack?”

“Payback.”

“What?” This time Ianto slips his arms around Jack’s body and hauls him closer. Pressed chest to chest, he kisses the spot just below Jack’s ear. “He was deranged. You said so yourself. What could possibly be-”

“No.” Jack pulls away and sits up, back against the headboard, roughly dragging his fingers through his hair. “What’s the… Cosmic payback. That’s the word. What’s that thing that was so popular in the sixties?”

Ianto crosses his arms over his chest. “I wasn’t there.”

“You know, that concept… Buddhists believe in?”

“Karma?”

“Yes.” Jack’s hands seem to have a life of their own as they flop about and land in his lap. “I brought it on myself.”

“You don’t believe in that.” He reaches over and grabs one of Jack’s hands, entwining their fingers.

“You don’t have to believe in gravity to fall on your ass.”

Ignoring this, because it’s useless trying to argue with Jack’s logic, especially when he isn’t using any, Ianto takes a few deep breaths and grasps Jack’s hand a bit more tightly. “You’ve… been around for a while. You, more than anyone, should know that sometimes things… just happen. There isn’t always a _reason_ , Jack.”

“Ianto, the things I’ve done…” Jack’s voice cracks, eyes huge and wet. “You don’t even know the half of it. I couldn’t tell you. I can’t…”

“And I’m not asking you to.” He grabs Jack’s hand back when it’s wrenched away. Quickly, he swings his leg over, tangled up in the sheets, and straddles Jack’s lap, forcing him to look. “Not because I can’t handle it, Jack. Not because I wouldn’t be able to deal or that I’d look at you differently or I don’t really want to know anything about you that you’re willing to share. It’s none of that and you know it!” He places his hands gently on the sides of Jack’s face, presses their foreheads together, lips almost touching. “You aren’t that person anymore.”

“Ianto…”

“No. Listen to me. You! Are Captain. Jack. Harkness. Leader of Torchwood. Defender of Earth. And maybe some other planets, you never know.” Ianto half shrugs, smirking, and a glimmer of a smile forms on Jack‘s lips. “You save the world and get the… guy.”

Jack chuckles at this. “You.”

“Yes. Me.” He kisses Jack’s lips, softly, quickly. “There’s no plan, Jack. We’re just here.” He kisses him again, longer this time. “Just be here.”

Jack slides his arms around Ianto’s waist, hugging him closer, and kisses him again. And again. He kisses along his jaw and down his neck, stopping to rest his head in the hollow of Ianto’s shoulder, breath huffing across bare skin, raising goose bumps.

Ianto shivers. “This is terribly uncomfortable, you know.”

Laughing, Jack flips him over onto his back and lays on top, propping himself up on his elbows. “Better?”

“Much.” Ianto brushes his fingers over Jack’s face and up into his hair. “We’re not going back to sleep, are we?”

“Not just yet.”

Nothing is fixed. The nightmares will continue to plague him and Ianto will watch him suffer and feel helpless. But they are here just now.

* * *


End file.
